There seems to be a lot of minor deals being made today so I am going to update this post with all the minor deals with the most recent deals at the top of the list. More major deals requiring more significant analysis will get their own post.

17. Phoenix acquire Kvasha from Islanders for a 3rd round pick. A few years ago the Islanders traded Jokinen and Luongo to Florida for Parrish and Kvasha. The Islanders now have a 3rd round pick and a couple of prospects they acquired from Los Angeles yesterday for those two guys who have become stars in Florida. Can anyone explain why Milbury kept his job this long?

12. Ottawa has acquired Tyler Arnason from Chicago for Brandon Bochenski and a second round pick. I am not sure Arnason is the kind of second line center they really need. He certainly has some skill but isn’t really any different than Jason Spezza. Having Spezza-Arnason as your 1-2 centers you don’t have much experience. Not a significant improvement for the Senators really and is really just another ‘soft’ player with little or no playoff experience and provides nothing new to the Senators team.

11. Sergei Samsonov traded to Edmonton for Marty Reasoner, a second round pick and prospect Jan Stastny. Samsonov has a lot of speed and skill and will fit into the Oilers speed and skill based offense. When Samsonov is on and playing well he can be a very good player, but he has never really quite lived up to his potential.

10. Cory Cross traded from Pittsburgh to Red Wings for 2007 4th round pick. This is the Jamie Rivers replacement. Cross will be used as a depth defenseman and will provide someadditional physical play that Rivers could not.

9. Brendan Witt traded to Nashville for Kris Beech and a first round pick. Good deal for both sides. Nashville needed a physical defensive defenseman to complement the offensive capabilities of Timonen and Zidlicky. Washington gets a first round pick for a player who didn’t want to play there and was gone at the end of the year as a unrestricted free agent. Kris Beech was once a good prospect and originally drafted by Washington and used in the trade for Jagr but won’t really offer the Capitals very much.

8. Sandis Ozolinsh traded from Anaheim to the NY Rangers for a 3rd round draft pick. This is a salary dump for Anaheim as Ozolinsh makes $2.75 million through next season. For the Rangers Ozolinsh will provide some much needed offense from the blue line. He is also a good skater so will fit in well with the Rangers style of play.

7. Detroit Red Wings send Jamie Rivers to Phoenix for a 7th round pick. This is now officially the least significant trade of the day only marginally ahead of a couple of those waiver wire moves.

6. Keith Carney gets traded to Vancouver for a draft pick and a prospect. Carney has been around for almost forever and is in his last year or two of his career but he is still a very good defenseman and is a bit addition to the Canucks lineup.

5. Mark Recchi has been traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for a 2nd round pick, Kris Kolanos and Niklas Nordgren. Wow. Recchi is an excellent replacement for Eric Cole who is out until at least the end of the regular season and will provide some much needed veteren leadership and ample playoff experience which is not something the Hurricanes have an abundance of. In my mind this is a much more important trade for the Hurricanes than Doug Weight. What is very interesting too is that a big part of the reason for the Weight trade was to stop Weight from going to Ottawa. Part of the reason for this trade might be to stop him from going to Philadelphia which was where he was highly rumored to be traded to. Ottawa was also rumoured to be interested in Recchi as well. And they did it for just a second round draft pick and a couple of fringe players. Excellent deal for Carolina.

4. Ollie Jokinen signed a 4 year, $21 million deal with the Panthers so he won’t be traded today.

3. Washington send Jeff Frieson to Anaheim for a second round pick. This is an excellent deal for for Washington as they get a second round pick for someone who has done next to nothing for them this year and has a good sized contract. Anaheim on the other hand is clearly hoping that Friesen can return to where he was at least when he previously played with Anaheim.

2. Canucks acquire Mike Noronen from the Sabres for a 2nd round draft pick. This is a good deal for the Canucks and I am surprised that the Sabres didn’t try to use Noronen to get a player who could help their playoff run. Noronen is a bit of a question mark since he has hardly played at all this year but he has the potential to help the Canucks this year and the future. It’s a relatively low risk, potential good reward trade for the Canucks.

1. Denis Gauthier gets traded from Phoenix to Philadelphia for prospect Josh Gratton and two 2nd round draft picks. This is a good deal for both teams. Gauthier is a physical defenseman and should add some toughness to the Flyers lineup. The Coyote’s get a good deal as well as they pick up a pair of second round draf t picks for a soont o be unrestricted free agent they weren’t likely to sign after the season ends.
Josh Gratton is a tough guy who has 9 goals, 19 points and 265 PIM in 53 games for the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms.

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Welcome to HockeyAnalysis.com, where I strive to get a better understanding of the game of hockey through the use of statistical analysis. I hope you enjoy whatever time you spend here and maybe even learn a little. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me an e-mail at david (at) hockeyanalysis.com.